In recent years, in solid-state imaging devices, pixels have been miniaturized with a high resolution of the pixels. Under such a circumstance, the solid-state imaging device may have a problem that a defective portion (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a “defect”) of a digital image signal caused due to a pixel which does not normally function occurs. In defect inspection at the time of manufacturing a solid-state imaging device, a product for which many pixel defects greater than regulations are recognized is treated as a defective product. However, as the regulations become stricter, a yield ratio of solid-state imaging device may deteriorate, and thus a manufacturing cost may increase. Accordingly, in a solid-state imaging device according to the related art, a method of causing a defect to be unnoticeable through signal processing in a defect correcting circuit is actively utilized.
The defect correcting circuit judges whether a target pixel to be subjected to defect correction is a defect by comparing a signal of the target pixel to a signal of a peripheral pixel located in the periphery of the target pixel. In regard to the process of judging whether the target pixel is a defect, for example, there is a known defect correcting circuit that uses a signal of a peripheral pixel located in a line including the target pixel and signals of peripheral pixels located in lines before and after the line. For example, a pixel with the same color as that of the target pixel is used as the peripheral pixel.
In order for the defect correcting circuit to perform such a process, the solid-state imaging device necessarily includes a line memory that stores a plurality of lines. By applying the line memory, the solid-state imaging device is able to perform the defect correction using the signals of the peripheral pixels included in the lines located before and after the line including the target pixel. However, there is a problem that a circuit size may increase. When it is judged whether the target pixel is a defect using only a target pixel and a peripheral pixel located in the line including the target pixel, the solid-state imaging device has a problem that erroneous correction may occur, although the circuit size is reduced.